IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE – MATCH DAY 12 (AUGUST 24/25TH)

This weekend sees the three IBI Corporate Finance Premier League games split across Saturday & Sunday, with Leinster’s progress to the All-Ireland T20 Final seeing their fixture against Phoenix set to be played on Saturday afternoon.

On Sunday, the league title race continues to heat up towards the final day showdown, as Pembroke play host to Malahide in Syndey Parade, whilst in Castle Avenue, Merrion are the visitors to Clontarf.

LEINSTER VS PHOENIX

Kicking off in Observatory Lane, Leinster and Phoenix appear to be locked in a fight for third position in the table, and the home side could secure the spot for themselves if they were to claim 24 points in this tie. The key men for Leinster are their batters, as when they have fired this season it has made them a very tough proposition to overcome. Bilal Azhar will be trying to get his side off to a fast start, whilst the middle order including Monil Patel, Saqib Bahadur, Tristen de Beer and Joey Carroll feature some power-hitters and good stroke-makers. They would be hoping to feature Gareth Delany, as his absence last week did appear to leave them somewhat brittle to a collapse. With the ball, they will look to the Jai Moondra and Mark Tonge as an opening pair to cause the Phoenix top-order some problems, whilst they are supported by another pair of high class seamers in Azhar and Carroll. Their left and right arm balance continues with their spinners, as Tom Johnson’s left-arm offies and Saqib Bahadur’s right arm, deliver some accurate options which have regularly caused their oppositions some major trouble so far this season.

Phoenix on the other hand will need to recover some ground after a heavy defeat at the hands of Pembroke last weekend, and considering how the pitches in Rathmines have generally taken spin quite well this season, it could really be a case of how many of their spinners they can get on the field dictating how competitive they are in the game. Amish Sidhu and Dev Ranolia are both certain to feature, with both of those left-arm spinners excellent operators, and Ranolia in particular very experienced in Observatory Lane. Another spinner extremely familiar with the Rathmines ground who’s inclusion would be a big boost is George Dockrell, and if he and Ben White are added to their ever-present pair, they could provide an extremely stiff task to the home side. Their seamers are led by Tyrone Kane and Jack Lalor, however both men will likely be looked to more so in their batting roles this time around. The same can be said for Shane Getkate who now hasn’t bowled for a number of weeks, whilst their batting unit also includes Johit Munjal and Levon Shields, who are capable of producing decent efforts at the top of the order.

With spin set to play a key role, Amish Sidhu will most likely be tasked with tying down Monil Patel in Leinster’s number three slot, if the Phoenix left-armer can dismiss Patel, it will give the away side a big chance of getting on an early roll.

KEY BATTLE: Monil Patel vs Amish Sidhu

PEMBROKE VS MALAHIDE

Pembroke head into this game still unbeaten in this season’s league campaign, and having lost just one game of fifty over cricket all season, however due to ties in two of their last three league games, sit second and will need a big victory to keep the pressure on Merrion at the top of the table. They welcome Harry Tector back into their side, and he lengthens an in-form batting unit which will see Tector feature after a top three including brother Tim, Diarmaid Tucker and JJ Garth, whilst Nick Stapleton, Jack Tector and Fiachra Tucker make up an extremely strong top 7, however the batting depth doesn’t stop there, with Gavin Hoey and wicket-keeper Greg Hollins also in the side, giving the Sydney Parade line-up a formidable look to it. With the ball, Stapleton and Byron McDonough look set to share the opening bowling duties, with McDonough in particular in brilliant form this season and currently leading the way in the O’Grady Cup standings. Their spin attack now features four options, with Hoey’s leg-breaks likely to lead the way alongside Paul Lawson’s offies, and the pair are supported by Garth’s leggies and Harry Tector’s off-spin, with that quartet likely to play a key role in ensuring things are kept tight through the middle overs.

Malahide meanwhile have managed to shuffle themselves up into fifth position after last weekend’s victory, and they’ll once again be looking to Cormac McLoughlin-Gavin to put the side on a solid footing at the start of the innings with the bat. Adam Doyle is another man who they can look to build their innings around, whilst their middle order is generally laden with stroke makers, starting from Younas Ahmadzai, Jeremy Martins and the hard-hitting pair of Andy Sheridan and Aaron Doyle. Last week saw gloveman Matthew Langan appearing at the top of the order, and it will be interesting to see if he continues in that position, as it clearly allowed their batting order to have a slightly deeper look to it. With the ball, skipper James Newland and Kelvin Donnelly are one of the leagues better opening pairings, and they will look to extract early movement and out-last Pembroke’s top order for patience, whilst Sheridan and Martins are another excellent pair of seamers who will likely bowl first change. Mike Frost and Mohit Sane make up a strong left-arm spinning duo, with Frost in particular having a brilliant season across club and Interprovincial cricket.

Pembroke’s top order have been in dominant form of late, and they will be looking to Tim Tector to get them off to a good start this weekend. If he can get on top of Kelvin Donnelly, the home side could be in a really strong position by the end of their PowerPlay.

KEY BATTLE: Tim Tector vs Kelvin Donnelly

CLONTARF VS MERRION

Clontarf go into this weekend’s game without their overseas man Rahul Dalal, who has returned to India ahead of the start of the Ranji Trophy season. Whilst they are still without the services of PJ Moor or Curtis Campher as we enter the back end of the season. There’s a debut for wicket-keeper Ben McCarthy who takes over from Dalal behind the stumps, and the batting line-up which includes David Vincent, Mitchell Thompson, the Delany brothers David and Eoghan, and their pair of all-rounders John McNally and Fionn Hand. With the ball, Hand will likely share the opening duties with Reuben Wilson, whilst John McNally is the third seamer in the line-up with David Delany not currently bowling. Their spinners are led by Cillian McDonnell’s left-arm, whilst Yash Bala and Vincent will both provide off-spin options to the skipper Delany.

Merrion meanwhile go into this fixture missing a couple of key names from their side, most notably Stephen Doheny, who’s absence leaves a hole to be filled at the top of the order, that could be filled by Mike Lewis, who has batted in that position earlier in the season where Doheny has missed fixtures, whilst Sean Stanton may be another option to slot in. John Anderson and Adam Rosslee remain the key men in the side at 3 & 4, with Anderson coming into the game off the back of a brilliant century last weekend. Skipper Sam Harbinson, Pete Francis & Jamie Forbes will be tasked with finishing the innings off quickly, as they have become quite adept at in recent times. With the ball, Mikey O’Reilly’s injury will mean that Max Sorensen and Francis are likely to continue as the new ball pair, with seam support coming in the shape of both Harbinson and Melvin Devaraj. The five man attack is rounded off by left-arm spinner Tom Stanton.

Merrion’s batting will be the key here, with them not only looking to win, but win big to try keep distance between themselves and Pembroke, and as a result John Anderson’s success with the bat will be key, if he can dominate Cillian McDonnell’s spell, it will put the away side well on top in the game.

KEY BATTLE: Cillian McDonnell vs John Anderson

IBI CORPORATE FINANCE PREMIER LEAGUE

MATCH DAY 12 – AUGUST 24/25^TH

ALL 12 NOON STARTS

At Observatory Lane, Leinster vs Phoenix – August 24^th

At Sydney Parade, Pembroke vs Malahide – August 25^th

At Castle Avenue, Clontarf vs Merrion – August 25^th